A World Without You
by Benet1003
Summary: “Luke,” She finally said, her voice finally softening. “Both our parent’s had the choice, and the reason to get rid of us. Can you picture a world where Ellie made the wrong choice, or one where Dan got his way?” LP Four-Shot, based on 6.17 Promo Number 3
1. Can You?

"If you'd like to talk about it, then call it what it is. An abortion." Her voice broke the conversation. One word. One word, and Lucas' world was stopped. He was stupid, he knew that what he was asking her to do _was_ have an abortion. But they weren't sixteen, and they hadn't made a mistake. They weren't trying to fix a mistake. They were trying to be happy, and he couldn't be happy without her. And if he lost her, after he'd been an ass, and left them alone for three years, he wasn't sure he'd want to keep living.

"Peyton." He couldn't think of much else to say. There wasn't anything else he could say, except maybe, kill the damn baby. But he didn't want to say that. He didn't want that. He wanted to get no sleep, and he wanted to deal with her all hormonal. He wanted her to be pregnant. But he needed her to be here. "Peyton, I want this baby." His voice was soft and warm, trying to melt her glare, but he knew her well enough to know to at least stay away. "I want to hold our little girl in my arms, and watch her grow up, but Peyton, I don't want to do it without you." He paused, looking at her.

She was a mess, she should be a mess, and she was one. Her long blonde hair was down, and though it had been washed and combed this morning, the day's stress had worn it down. Now the curls hung around her head, almost lifeless. Symbolic. The little amount of makeup she'd thrown on was running down her face. She looked, to Luke as always, perfect, but she also looked more broken that he'd seen her since he'd left her.

"There will be other babies, Peyton. We can make another baby." Okay, so now wasn't the time for sexual innuendos. He had just been trying to get her to smile. "I can't make another you. I tried. I tried to find someone to replace you, Peyt, and we all saw how well that ended." He looked back at her, his eyes meeting hers. "It ended with you. Everything comes back to you, Peyt, and I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

"But this is our daughter, Luke. She's already our daughter. We can't just give her back." They could. The doctor hadn't said that so bluntly, but that had been the gist of it. She wasn't far enough along that she couldn't terminate. "I can't just give her back. I can't leave her." Lucas didn't point out that if she died, she'd have to leave her, and him, anyways, he knew that she already knew that.

They were both silent for a moment, before Peyton took a few steps forward, across the cluttered, half-finished nursery that she and Lucas had been arguing in. She walked until she found herself in his arms, pressed tightly to his chest, his arms locked around her waist, as if he would never let her go.

"Luke," She finally said, her voice finally softening. "Both our parent's had the choice, and the reason to get rid of us. Can you picture a world where Ellie made the wrong choice, or one where Dan got his way?"

Two hours later, as he lay in bed, Peyton, Peyton and the daughter that might not be there's much longer, held safely, for the moment, in his arms, he couldn't get what she'd said out of his mind. What if Ellie had gotten her way? What if the world he was living in now had no Peyton? And it was with that, final, terrifying thought, that he let himself drift to sleep.

**A/N: So, it's super short, but I hope you enjoyed anyways. This story is going to be short, maybe three or four chapters, and it's all going to deal with Peyton's final question to Lucas. As for my other stories, I have a UD for WECCD almost ready (maybe for Friday) and a UD for RTFP started (maybe for this weekend). School had been horrible this week, I swear, I've done nothing by write papers, read about Italian Unification and breathe since Monday night. Sorry! Review if you'd like to read another chapter.**


	2. A World Without Peyton

_The chair that Lucas sat in was comfortable. It should have been. He'd picked it out when he was nine, and since then, he'd sat in it every day for at least fifteen minutes. Usually longer. It was well worn, and its navy blue fabric was all but torn on the end. It looked as though one more dejected flop, and the entire chair would collapse into a pile of stuffing, fabric and wood. But Lucas wouldn't trade it for the world._

_"Lucas." The "s" was almost hissed out, making it sound like whoever was calling out Luke's name was either a serpent, or extremely annoyed with him. He knew it was the latter even before he looked up and met the eyes of his best friend, glaring at him from behind the glass window of his mother's café. He would have argued with her, told her to calm down, but she clearly wasn't in the mood. So instead, he swung his feet down, slid his messenger over his arm, and walked out, knowing that his mother would hear the bell, and knew he left._

_"And hello to you too, Haley." He rolled his eyes as he walked out the door, the warm North Carolina air sweeping over his body, and bringing a slight smile to his face, even though he knew Haley would anything but appreciate it._

_"We are going to be late." _

_"I don't care." He responded easily. He didn't. Ever since he'd turned down Coach Durham's invitation to play first string varsity, his life had been a nightmare. Or, well, his life had been a nightmare since the team had taken to playing junior varsity players, and losing. Not that he was sure why they were all so mad at him now. Two months ago, they'd all hated him for even thinking he could have a place on the team. Either way, though, he sure as hell wasn't spending any extra time at school, unless he absolutely had to, which included this absolutely ridiculous "moving-up" ceremony that Lucas had thought stopped, once you graduated elementary school._

_He knew why they were having it, of course, and the reason drove by Luke and Haley, just as he unlocked the door to his car, and they both slid into the red 1963 Mercury Comet._

_The reason was Brooke Davis, and Lucas couldn't help but feel sorry for her. He didn't really know her, but he knew enough to know that she couldn't have planned for this. From what he'd heard, when her parents had originally proposed coming home, just for the next week, so that they could see her, and the principle had heard, and jumped at the opportunity to show his school off to the single richest family on the East Coast, she'd been overjoyed. And then, she'd slept with Nathan Scott, and gotten pregnant. From the look on her face as she walked down the sidewalk, alone except for the little girl in her arms, just a few weeks old, her parent's hadn't taken then news well. _

_"Do you want a ride?" Luke was quick to pull the car up to the curb, careful not to cause any damage to the paint. His uncle had found the car, abandoned on the side of the road, next to a pond, and had apparently, known from the moment he saw it, that it was supposed to be Lucas'._

_She looked up at him, bewildered, and for a second, as Brooke's chocolate brown eyes appraised Luke, confused, he was afraid that he'd made a huge mistake. _

_And then she smile, a sad, tired smile, but a smile none the less. "Thanks, but I'm not going to that thing." She gestured vaguely towards the school, holing up her daughter with one arm. "My parents are going to be there."_

_"We're not going either." Lucas replied simply, happy that he now had an excuse to not go. Haley had been badgering him for weeks, years really, to go any talk to Brooke, if only because his mother could help her. It didn't hurt that she happened to know he'd felt this pull towards her, for as long as he could remember. He unlocked the door, and looked at her, neither saying anything, until she nodded slowly, and opened the door. _

_"Thanks." _

_"Lucas Scott." He said by way of introduction. "And this is Haley James."_

_"Right." He hadn't been sure she'd known, but it was a small town, and the small smile on her face told him that she'd known that. "Brooke Davis, but you already knew that." Another cocky smile, and then her face softened. "And this is Hannah Davis." _

_"She's adorable."_

_"I think you're the first person who's ever met her, and said that." Her voice was this heartbreaking mix to complete honest, and bitter, and if he had have known her better, Luke would have tried to fix it. But he didn't, and so all it did was make the tension already in the car, this baby was after all, no matter how estranged, his niece, and they all seemed to have just realized that. "So, umm, where are you taking us, exactly?" At first, Luke and Haley both thought that Brooke was just trying to break the tension with the fear in her voice, until they looked around, and realized that Lucas had driven them straight into the graveyard, that sat just off the high way._

_"Oh, I'm planning to kill you." His voice was light, and he was joking, and they all knew that, but any humor faded out of the car, when all three of them caught sight of a couple walking out of the cemetery. _

_The woman was his mother's age, pretty, with long blonde hair and light blue eyes. But she was crying, and she looked older than she really was. The same went for the man next to her. His hair was grey, and his face was lined with wrinkles, though he was no older than thirty five. _

_"Hello, Mrs. Sawyer, Mr. Sawyer." He called out softly, as they passed by the car, only the woman looking back at him, a faraway look in her eyes, almost glazing them over, as she looked at him for a second, and whipped her head back around. Mr. Sawyer just waited patiently, his eyes on Hannah, a small smile on his face as he watched Brooke hold her daughter closer to her. _

_The entire car was silent for a second after that. No one said a word, even after the Sawyer had left, and even after Lucas had backed the car out of the lot, and they were sitting, back in Lucas' house. Brooke was taking in the surroundings. She'd never been to Lucas' house before. She'd really never even spoken to him before today. But what better time then now, when she had no one else? Hannah was asleep, and Haley was in the kitchen, finding something they all could eat._

_But Luke's thoughts were farther away than his living room, or his kitchen cabinet. No, Lucas' mind was still caught on the Sawyer's. Most people knew about them, but unlike everyone else in this town with some sort of story, they weren't constantly talked about. People just left them alone. So Lucas hadn't heard about what happened from a stranger, or a kind at school. His mother had been the one who'd explained the entire heart breaking story to him. _

_Apparently, they'd been all ready to adopt a little girl from Elisabeth Harp, and then, it a move that was just so Ellie, she'd decided she didn't want to have even deliver the baby, so just before it would have been illegal, she got rid of it. Two days after that, Ellie had died in a car accident, and Anna had never really gotten over it. When Ellie was buried, Anna and Larry had taken it upon themselves to pay for everything. Ellie had had no money, no family that acknowledged her. Anna and Larry were the only people there when they buried her. So they were sure no one would notice when, underneath Ellie's name, was Peyton Elisabeth Sawyer, beloved daughter. _

_They were wrong. Lucas noticed. And it broke his heart, as he stood in front of the headstone later that night, after Brooke had been carefully handed over to Karen for safekeeping. It broke his heart, as he stood in front of the stone, not quite sure why he cared so much._

Lucas woke with a start, tears dripping down his eyes, and not stopping until he felt Peyton move in his arms. Peyton. His Peyton. His Peyton was in his arms. She was here, and she was his. And she was right, and Lucas knew that for sure when he felt a light, little flutter beneath the hand that was resting over Peyton's stomach. This was their child. This was a part of them. It was a piece of Peyton, and the world could use as much Peyton as it could get.

**A/N: What did you think? Was this were you were expecting I'd take it (I know lovely35 guessed that this was where it would go)? Next chapter is Peyton's world without Lucas. Review!**


	3. A World Without Lucas

**A/N: In this universe, Peyton met Brooke through Nathan, and Peyton's mother (in the "real" world, was killed picking Peyton up from cheerleading practice, which she started because of Brooke)**

She wanted nothing more than to wake him up. He was thrashing around in the bed, and moaning out her name in a way that _wasn't _at all good, and all Peyton wanted to do was take her fiancé into her arms, and fix whatever was wrong. But she couldn't. Well, she could, but she honestly did know if she wanted him awake just yet. It was a terrible thing to say, especially since his dreams were obviously not happy ones, but she was just so damn mad. Even after she'd pointed out that there very well could have been no Lucas and Peyton, if it had hadn't have been for a few choice decisions, he hadn't backed down. If anything, it had made him more adamant that he could make another baby, but Peyton was irreplaceable.

In theory, how much he loved her was sweet. In practice, he was asking her to kill her baby. Kill their baby. And a part of her, a terrible, horrible part of her, had hoped he was say that, because a part of her wasn't ready to take a chance with her life. A part of her didn't want to leave Luke, didn't want to leave her daughter behind, without a mother. But a bigger part of her didn't want to give up their baby now. A part of her didn't want to live the rest of her life wondering what if. What she'd wanted him to tell her was that everything was going to be okay, and they would keep the baby, and be the happy little family that they should be. Instead, he'd told her that she was his family, and he didn't want one without her.

She moved her hand up to cover her mouth as a yawn overtook her, and then she sighed, taking one last look at Lucas' now still body before walking slowly to the couch, and pulling the baby blanket that Karen had sent her and Lucas' when they'd found out they were having a girl, close around her. She fell asleep with one hand on her stomach, and one hand gripping a necklace Lucas had given her, with the pink afghan wrapped around her.

_She woke up with a light blue afghan wrapped around her, arms tangled in the loose, worn blanket. She gently slid it off of her body before swinging her feet off the bed, catching a glimpse of her wild, unruly hair in the mirror before she slunk downstairs, ready to find out why her little brother had taken her sheets, for the fifth time this week._

_"Gavin!" She called, a yawn escaping her tired mouth, followed by a groan a few seconds later when she found the eight year old curled in a ball, asleep on the kitchen table, her sheets covering him up. "Gavs," She called again, this time softly as she shook him awake, pulling her sleeping brother to his feet, and then setting him on the floor. "What are you doing?"_

_"I was sleeping." He yawned, crawling into his older sister's arms, his long, shaggy dork brown hair flopping from side to side as he shook his head._

_"On the kitchen table?"She let him get comfortable before she pulled him up, into her arms, and then carried him upstairs, to his bedroom._

_"Emma said it was okay." _

_"Of course she did." Peyton mumbled softly into her brother's shoulder, sliding open the door to his bedroom, and then lying him down on his bed. He wasn't going to school today. She wouldn't even be going to school today it wasn't for the three tests' she had today. AP Biology, AP Art History and AP Calculus..She didn't know where Emma was. She usually disappeared today; Peyton knew she still blamed herself for their mother's death. _

_Emma had started cheerleading when she was nine, just a few months after she'd found out that like Peyton, she was adopted. Peyton knew how she felt. She was just searching for a way to be like the mother she knew and loved. Peyton had turned to art, but Emma had picked up the cheerleading her mother had loved so much. Anna had been on her way to pick Emma up from a cheerleading practice when she'd run the light on Main Street, and been killed. Emma had never really forgiven herself._

_But she didn't have time to worry about that. It was six forty five, and if she wanted to get to school on time, she had to get moving. It was seven fifteen before she made it out of her house, a baby sitter for Gavin secured, dressed in a pair of worn jeans, and a _Keith Scott Body Shop _sweatshirt that her father's best friend had given her as a gift the Christmas before. Her long blonde hair was pulled up into a ponytail, and she was running late. But her Uncle Keith had fixed up her old red Mustang (it had originally been his), and it ran perfectly, so she at least knew she wouldn't have to worry about that. She was right, her car ran perfectly, and she made it to school just in time for the first bell. _

_The morning was easy, it always was. First period Studio Art, second was AP English, and then she had Art History, Biology and French Five. She aced two of her tests, she knew, and she was in fairly good spirits when the lunch bell rang. And then the lunch bell rang._

_At least Nathan was here today though. The tortuous lunch period went much faster when she had her oldest friend next to her, but Nathan didn't make it to school often. He and his mother lived just outside of town, and like no one had even known Peyton existed, most people hadn't taken much notice of him, until word got out that he was Caleb Scott's older half brother. Then, he'd stopped coming to school any more than was absolutely necessary. Caleb Scott may have been a year younger than him, but he was still the prince of the town. Dan Scott ran the biggest car dealership in town, and his wife, Karen Scott, owned a chair of restaurants that stretched along the entire east coast. According to her Uncle Keith, who aside from having been a close friend of Larry, and Karen herself during high school, was Dan's brother, and had made it no secret that he didn't like the people that either had become._

_He'd stuck by Deb from the beginning, and even though Peyton had known the real story behind Nathan's birth for longer than ever her parent's, it had still shocked her at just how venomous the people of Tree Hill could be._

_"Move over, loser." And there was one of the snakes themselves. The leader, actually. With her long brown hair, and chocolate brown eyes, and cute little dimples, Brooke Davis had everyone in the school under her spell, and even now, as Peyton laid on the floor, her books sprawled around her, she couldn't help but notice the people around her, looking at her as if it was her fault that she had been in Brooke's way. _

_Sitting next to Brooke at the table was her best friend, and co-captain of the cheerleading squad, Haley James. Haley was from a big family, and as soon as she could walk, she'd been attached to Brooke's hip. Until last fall, when she'd been offered a record deal, and had spent the last six months touring the country with her boyfriend, Chris Keller. Nathan was hopelessly in love with her, and she didn't even know his name._

_And sitting right next to them, was the golden boy himself, Caleb Scott. He had short, curly blonde hair, and piercing brown eyes that Peyton pretended not to notice, but, like every other girl in the school, she was in love with. He was the star of the basketball team, the star of the down, and much to the annoyance of many, was always single, and never willing to date._

_"Stop drooling, Sawyer." Peyton looked up from the book she was reading, and smiled as Nathan Lee slid into the seat next to her. "How are you?"He knew what today was._

_"Thinking about cutting the last half of the day." She admitted honestly. She hated to come to school on the anniversary of the accident. She couldn't figure out which was worse, the fact that no one cared or ever seemed to remember, or if what it would be like if she was getting pitting looks from everyone. The first one, at least, she knew was hard._

_"Do you want me to drive you?"_

_"No." She said firmly. Nathan needed all the time in classes that he could get. "Just drop me off my work later on." And then she was gone. No one noticed her leave, and she doubted anyone cared. She was almost in tears by the time she finally made her way out of her car, and into the graveyard. She knew the way to her mother's tombstone by heart, so it only took her a few seconds to get there._

_"Hey, mom." She said quietly, after she'd taken a few seconds to just look everything over. "It's Peyton. I just wanted to let you know that everything's okay down here." She paused. "Except I guess you probably know it's not. Dad's gone all the time, and Emma's not doing well. She's never home, and when she is, she's getting high in her bedroom. Gavin's sleeping on the kitchen table, and I just miss you. It's hard." She let a single fat tear roll down her cheek. She tried not to do this. When she came to talk to her mother, she tried to tell her good things. But today, it was just too hard."So if you could just give a sign. Anything. Just to tell me that it's all going to be okay, I'd really appreciate it." And then she was silent for a minute, more tears running down her face silently. So silently, that she heard the brown sob from a few feel behind her, and spun on her heals._

_What she saw just about sent her tumbling over. It was Karen Scott. Karen "I'm too good for this town" Scott. She was sitting in front of a tiny white cross, her hands gently stroking the white marble, with tears running down her face. Her tormented, heartbroken, and for the first time Peyton had ever seen it, venerable, face._

_Peyton waited until Karen had left, until she saw the black Mercedes pull out of the lot, before she crossed the cemetery to the cross._

Lucas Eugene Scott, _it read, _The Son that Never Was.

_Peyton couldn't help the tears that fell from her eyes as she looked over the words, a silent, incomprehensible grief wracking her body as she sobbed for this boy as if he was a piece of her._

Peyton woke with a start, fresh tears dotting her cheeks as she slowly readjusted her eyes to the soft light that was still pouring in from the kitchen. She didn't hesitate before she was up, her feet leading her automatically in her, their bedroom, and into Lucas' arms. It was as if he had been expecting her, or he just needed her, because even in his sleep, his arms wrapped around her and pulled her close, one of his hands falling onto Peyton's stomach.

She was just about to wake him up, she was, and then she felt a light fluttering in her stomach. Her baby. Their baby. Lucas must have felt it too, because the next thing she heard was s light sob, and then his eyes were open, and his arms were pulling her as close to his as she could be. Not that she minded. After her hell of a dream, she needed it as much as he did.

"Peyton?" He whispered out groggily, sleep, and fear thick in his voice.

"I'm right here, baby." She whispered back, pressing a kiss to his lips. "I'm right here."

"I love you." He paused, his fingers lightly dribbling over her stomach. "We're keeping our baby." The way he said it was so damn sure, so firm, that it made her heart soar. "If you want to keep out baby, then we will, because I know that everything is going to be all right. We are going to be okay because I love you, and I love our daughter more than anything in the world. And fate, god, whatever is controlling this, has to know that it's time we get some luck. We've been through too much. So it's going to be okay. It is."

"I love you, Lucas Scott." It was all she could say. She loved him. She didn't want to live in a world without him, and she knew he was right. They were True Love Always, and this was their always, and she'd be dammed if they weren't going to get it.

**A/N: So, the next chapter is going to be like an epilogue. It should be up by Monday. Leave a review, tell me what you think!**


	4. Trying to Stop the World

"Luke, it's time." One sentence, one sentence, and then a look at Peyton, her face contorted in pain, and though he was sure that she didn't want him to see it, fear, and Lucas world had crashed down upon him. He didn't want this. He didn't want this baby anymore. He didn't want everything he did with Peyton for the next few hours to potentially be his last. He didn't want to say goodbye.

"Are you sure?" He asked quietly, and Peyton only nodded. They'd both known this day was coming, soon. Everything was taken care of, Lucas and Peyton had been married the week before, the nursery was done, Larry was in town, Peyton's will was drawn up, and signed. The bags were packed. She was ready to go, Lucas just wasn't ready to let her leave him.

"I'm positive." It should have been rude, it should have been mean, god knows she was in enough for pain for it to be both, but Peyton couldn't make her tone anything other than soft, and breakable. "Are you sure you don't want me to call Nathan, and Brooke, and Haley?"

That had been a mutual decision, though it had been Lucas that suggested that only he and Larry be there. He'd said it was because of Jamie being so young, and Brooke's new little baby, Harper, being just a baby, but they both knew it was because if these were Peyton's last hours, Lucas wasn't planning on sharing her with anyone other than Larry.

"Yeah, babe." He was silent for a second, as he focused his eyes on Peyton, on the way she was standing in their kitchen, in so much pain. It was killing him that not only could he not save her from this, but he had had a hand in doing this to her. "Let's go."

Peyton moved slowly from the kitchen table to the coat closet where her bag was stashed, and then to the door, as she took in everything about the house. It seemed darker than it usually did, almost as if it was saying goodbye to her. She let a tear roll down her face as she walked out the door, Lucas' hand clasped in hers, knowing that she might never be back.

The car ride to the hospital was quite, which was odd, considering Peyton and Lucas had both done their best to keep any silence from overtaking them, for the past week. But it was just too much to do now, as Lucas drove the Comet, Peyton had insisted, to the hospital, one hand clenched around the steering wheel, and there around Peyton's hand, so tight that Peyton wondered if he thought that he could keep her here by sheer force. Like if he didn't let go, he couldn't lose her. She only closed her hand tighter around his.

The nurses all knew who she was, and where the room was, and they had been instructed to send her right up, the admittance papers were already signed, and just had to be dated by someone. Peyton and Lucas already knew where there room was, and not a word was said as they walked down the hallway, Lucas arms now wrapped around Peyton's shoulder, holding her as tightly as he could.

He watched as she changed into the hospital gown, he'd seen it all before, and, honestly, she wasn't going to ask him to leave. Not now. Now was no time to be embarrassed, as almost as soon as she was changed, and seated in the bed, Lucas had to resist the urge to break down then and there. She looked so broken, sitting in that bed, one hand on her swollen stomach, the other clenching the side of the bed, the rest of her, preparing to say goodbye.

"Luke." She gasped out, as another contraction hit, and he was at her side in an instant. Both of them wished that that was the most pain they'd be feeling today.

Seconds after the pain had dissipated, a young doctor walked into the room, dressed in pale blue scrubs, and a scrub cap that had never been so foreboding to Lucas.

He didn't bother with the pleasantries. It had been eight months since he broken their world, and right now, he knew the last thing this couple wanted him asking was how their day was going. "We're ready for her now." He said instead, and he watched as both Lucas and Peyton froze. "I'll leave you two alone, just go get a nurse when you're ready."

Lucas knew as soon as the doctor had said it, that, if ready was what they were waiting for, he'd never leave the room. Done was what he should have said. When you're done saying goodbye. He nodded stiffly, and then watched as the doctor walked out of the room, pity washing through all of his features.

"I love you, so much, Peyton Scott." He crawled into the bed with her, pulling her tightly into his arms.

"Luke, don't." She tried to pull away, but Luke only held her more tightly to him. "I'm going to be fine." She said it with such conviction that Lucas almost believed her. And then he looked at her face, and the fear etched over it, and he lost any faith he had. She didn't even believe that. Not anymore. "In three hours, I am going to wake up, and you're going to be right next to me, with our baby girl in your arms."

"I know." He didn't sound like he knew anything at all anymore. He sounded lost, and scared. "But I just want you to know that I love you." He gently places a finger on her lips when she tried to object again. "I have been I love with you since we were eleven years old, when the only thing I knew about you was that you had the prettiest legs I'd ever seen. And I have made a lot of mistakes since then, and the biggest one's were always letting you go. And it's killing me that we could be happy right now, if it wasn't for my stupid pride. Because I love you, and I could have had so much more time with you." He would not let himself cry. He had swore that to himself months before, but now, with the idea of losing Peyton so close to being a reality, he wasn't sure how far he was going to get. "It's always been you, and it's always going to be you, and I just wanted to let you know that no matter what, I love you, and I love this baby too." He felt her relax, just a little, after he finished, and he knew he'd eased at least a few of her worries. He knew that she was terrified that if she did die, their baby would be left with a father who resented it. He knew that she needed to know that he would always love this baby, if not just because it was half Peyton. "I love you so much, Peyton Sawyer."

She didn't have anything to say. Lucas was her entire world. She couldn't say goodbye to her entire world. "I love you too, Lucas." She said instead her voice so thick with emotion that she hoped that it would convey everything else she was feeling. "So much."

She felt his lips gently press to hers, and just stay there, unmoving for a second, before Lucas deepened the kiss, his tears mixing with hers, until they finally broke apart, and he brushed his hand through her hair one last time. And then he gently, softly reached up, his hand just resting on the button to page the nurse, not pressing down until Peyton's hand made its way on top of his, and pressed down for him.

Seconds later, a nurse walked into the room, and both Lucas and Peyton could see the tears in her eyes, too. The entire hospital seemed to know about them. Lucas got out of the bed slowly, never letting go of Peyton's hand. No one asked him too.

They ran into Larry, as Peyton's bed was wheeled through the hallway, but he hadn't been able to get out more than an "I love you," to his daughter. And then they were at the doors. He kissed her one last time, trying desperately to memorize everything about her, in the moment, before he felt her sigh against his lips, and he knew it was time.

"I love you, Blondie."

She didn't say anything back, instead, she pushed an envelope into his hands, and nodded to the nurse. It broke his heart, as he heard her sobs echoing through the hallway.

He retreated back to her room, with Larry following him. They should have been in the waiting room, but the chief of surgery had been briefed on the case, and since Peyton wouldn't be allowed back in here until after she was out of ICU, if she made it that far, anyways, they'd been told it was fine for them to wait there.

Larry turned on a basketball game as soon as they were back. It was a Duke/UNC game, and normally, Lucas would have been transfixed, watching his two favorite teams play his favorite game. But instead, he found himself sliding open the envelope that Peyton had handed him. It was an orange manila envelope, with his name written in her perfect handwriting. He gently pulled it open, and then slid out what was inside. He couldn't help but smile. If it had have been him, dying, he would have left a twenty page letter with Peyton. She left him a drawing. The paper was quartered, and then, the top half was made into ten separate boxes. In each of the smaller squares, was a small sketch of a moment that had some meaning to Lucas and Peyton. There was the time he almost ran her over, the time they almost slept together in Nathan's guest room, the school shooting, the state championship, their first "I love you," Honey grove, his proposal, Lucas and Lindsey's wedding, Vegas, and their wedding. Every pivotal moment in their relationship, drawn onto a piece of paper. It was the bottom half of the paper that brought him to tears. On the left half of the paper, was a picture of Peyton, with a baby girl in her arms, sitting outside. Lucas was sitting right next to her, both of his girls wrapped in his arms. In the background, there were two other, loosely sketched kids, playing together. The next square over though, was just of Lucas and the baby. Both were smiling, though Lucas was quiet sure how. It looked as though Lucas was teaching her how to walk, his hands gripping the little hands of his daughter as she toddled around, a smile on her face as well. Lucas didn't quite get it, until he saw the stone in the corner of the page. _Peyton Sawyer Scott. 1989-2012. Beloved Wife and Mother. _Scrawled in the corner of that picture, in Peyton's handwriting, was "I will always be watching over you. Love, Peyt (Mommy)"

He sat staring at that for the next few hours, his eyes memorizing every line, every stroke, every picture, constantly wiping his tears before they fell, and would ruin the drawing. That's what he was doing when the doctor stepped into the room four hours later. He looked tired, and scared, but when his eyes locked with Lucas', hope flickered, just a bit.

"Could you follow me, Mr. Scott?" Lucas got up and nodded, not saying anything. In a few seconds, his life as he knew it would be over, and judging from the look in the doctor's eyes, his heart was going to be breaking, too. "It was a hard surgery." He started, leading Lucas down a hallway, towards the elevators. "But your daughter is fine. Eight pounds, nine ounces. She born at eleven fifteen. You decided on Avery Elisabeth, right?"

Lucas didn't nod, he didn't cry, he simply stopped walking, as he realized they were now in the maternity wing. Peyton's room was on the neo-natal surgery wing. They were going towards the nursery.

"What about my wife?" He finally asked, tears threatening to overtake him, fear and worry threatening to crush him.

The doctor turned stopped walking, and then pushed the door he was standing right in front of open, before turning to face Lucas. "Why don't you ask her?"

He gestured into the room, and felt his heart stop, before he turned his head into the room. It was a maternity room, it was pink, and flowery, and everything Peyton hated. But in the middle of the room, on an uncomfortable looking bed, was his daughter, wrapped in her mother's arms.

Peyton looked up softly, smiling at her husband. "I told you everything was going to be okay, Luke."

He was in the room in a second, pulling her softly into his arms, careful of both her, and the little baby in her arms. "I couldn't have lived in a world with you."

"Likewise, baby. I love you."

**A/N: So that's it. What did you think? How many people thought Peyton was going to die? I did. The original ending of this was the graveyard picture, but I just couldn't do that. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and read! Leave a review to tell me how you think it turned out!**


End file.
